Face Beat It

This week, Michael sits down with MLQ Co-Founder Ethan Sturm to discuss the history of the league, starting with its inception back in 2014 all the way through some plans for its future.

Michael sits down with Ali Markus, the manager of MLQ's Indianapolis Intensity to talk about how she got into the role, her process for keeping her team running throughout the season, and how she's stuck around as the longest-serving manager in the entire league.

This week, Michael sits down with Josh Mansfield, the Elo Analyst for The Eighth Man to discuss quidditch stats, creating the Elo system with Ethan Bogart, and his work expanding and iterating on the statistical coverage of our sport. Editor's note: Josh's audio get's a little garbled around the 38-minute mark – nothing major, but it's worth noting because it might sound a bit confusing.

This week, Michael speaks with Naresh Edala, the co-Northeast Regional Coordinator, coach of Skyline Quidditch, and co-founder of Fast Break News to talk about starting his quidditch career with Rutgers University Quidditch/Reluctantly Unaffiliated Quidditch, the ins and outs of film analysis, and how he hopes to see quidditch film and analysis grow.

This week, Michael sits down with video editor, visual effects (VFX) artist, and creator behind Alchemy Video Ariel Heiblum to discuss highlight reels, and his meticulous process in creating them. If you want a great primer to get started on your own highlight reels, this is the multi-stage breakdown for you.

This week, Michael sits down with Billy Quach, the Creative Director for Let It Fly Media and NFL content creator. They talk about Billy's love of filming, his start with quidditch highlight reels, how he transitioned to filming for the NFL, and more.

This week, Michael sat down with USQ Executive Director Mary Kimball, Northeast Regional Coordinator (among many, many other things) Christian Barnes, and Referee Team Lead Miles Travis to discuss volunteering with USQ. *Editor's note: Christian's audio gets a bit garbled during the part about Rochester from about 48:45-49:45. It's intelligible enough that the information can still be understood, and it's valuable insight into the nation-wide issue of "unpopular" bid locations.

Michael sits down with Austin Sharp, long-time west coast quidditch player and graphic designer behind the Western Championship Quidditch branding mentioned on last week's podcast to talk about what drew him to design and branding, and how his process works. Austin's also behind the branding for the newest SoCal team, Anteaters Forever, as well as having a hand in the Long Beach Funky Quaffles branding and social media.

Michael is joined by Western Championship Quidditch commissioners Alexia Barnes and Steve DiCarlo to discuss the creation of the league, dating back to Steve's initial push for a west coast summer league in 2014, as well as the future plans once the world is safe enough to open up again.

This week, Michael sits down with Bay Area Breakers founders Shirley Lu, Rocio Salas, and Duran Allison to discuss the tumultuous creation of the newest Bay Area team, the Breakers, and the dissolution of the Bay Area's oldest community team, the Silicon Valley Skrewts.

Sam Fischgrund is back to talk with Michael Goldman, this time to talk about how to recruit new players to join your existing team.

We're back! Michael Goldman is joined by Anthony Hawkins, aka the Spider Snitch to discuss his highs and lows in the yellow shorts, as well as some tips and advice for people looking to improve their snitching game.

This week, Michael Goldman sits down with San Jose State University and San Francisco Fog Coach and Glorious Bitches Skills Camp Leader Kimberly Megan Cheng to discuss what got her into coaching, her experience as a skills coach, tips to work around small practice sizes, and more.

This week, Michael Goldman sits down with three-time USQ Nationals and two-time MLQ Championships coach Azeem Hussain to discuss how he got into coaching, advice for other coaches in the sport, and the importance of a well-timed dad joke.

This week, Michael Goldman sits down with Lindsey Simpson to discuss her numerous projects, her efforts towards getting more women and non-binary people involved in all levels of quidditch leadership and analysis, and her plans for the future when we can get back out on the pitch.

This week, Michael Goldman sits down with 2019-2020 Ref of the Year Toby March to discuss how he first got into reffing quidditch, the differences between refereeing both quidditch and flat-track roller derby, what it takes to become a Nationals-caliber head ref, and more. Toby was one of the most active refs in the country last year, filling nearly 50 head ref slots and another 10 as a lead assistant ref according to USQ.

This week, Michael Goldman sits down with Shirley Lu to talk about her start with quidditch photography, her process on the sidelines, the evolution of Shirley Lu Photography into what it is today, the differences between shooting quidditch and shooting other sports, and tips on how to get started as a photographer.

This week, Michael Goldman sits down with Sam Fischgrund to discuss what it takes to start a new team from the ground up. For those who don't know Sam's history, he's started anywhere from 4 to 50 different quidditch teams starting back in 2008 while he was a student at Princeton.

Michael Goldman sits down with Elizabeth Barcelos to discuss what it takes to successfully plan and run a tournament as a Tournament Director.

Ryan Smythe and Elizabeth Barcelos have a lot to cover in this episode of WCB, starting with Hella Summer Quidditch and SoCal Summer League (2:28), Neverland Classic (8:20), and Western Championship Quidditch (45:44).   Read more: 

Ryan Smythe and Elizabeth Barcelos are back after a summer hiatus to talk about the PanAmerican Games, updates to USQ's 2019-2020 gameplay policies and new season structure for the club teams, and the Western Championship Quidditch league. Read more: https://facebeatit.org/2019/09/06/west-coast-bias-ep-16-2019-2020-usq-updates-western-championship-quidditch-and-some-panamerican-games/

After a short break, What's Next is back! This week, MLQ Events Director and Texas Hill Country Heat chaser Emily Hickmott joins Jackie Ross to discuss quidditch conferences and what they can do for the community. Read more: 

This week, Team Canada and Team Hong Kong beater Ema Shiroma-Chao and current Toronto Raiders' coach Yara Kodershah join Jackie Ross to give a northern perspective on the quidditch community and discuss their experiences and thoughts about equity and inclusivity within the sport. Read more: https://facebeatit.org/2019/06/27/whats-next-ep-11-equity-within-ethnic-and-gender-diversity-in-quidditch-with-ema-shiroma-chao-and-yara-kodershah/

Justin Bogart is still here to talk about quidditch, this time covering World Cup 7, the International Referee Development Program (IRDP) and its split with USQ, and World Cup 8.

FBI staffer and Indianapolis Intensity manager Ali Markus joins Jackie Ross on this episode of What's Next to talk about the Midwest and Great Lakes regions and issues with being a leader in the quidditch community. Read More: 

In part three of DQH with Justin Bogart, he walks us through the first Global Games and World Cup 6 (the US one). Read more: https://facebeatit.org/2019/05/28/drunk-quidditch-history-ep-4-global-games-and-world-cup-6-with-justin-bogart/

Part two with Justin Bogart is here, starting out with the tail end of the World Cup 3 season and running all the way through the very first Northeast Regionals in 2012. Read more: https://facebeatit.org/2019/05/21/drunk-quidditch-history-ep-3-world-cup-4-5-with-justin-bogart/

Drunk Quidditch History is back, baby! Come listen to Justin Bogart spin us a tale of days gone by. Read more: 

On this episode of What's Next, Jackie Ross sits down with US Quidditch Event Hospitality Coordinator Brandi Cannon to discuss her idea for a project surrounding players and community members of color and her general feelings about the quidditch community as a longstanding member. Read more: https://facebeatit.org/2019/05/09/whats-next-ep-9-an-introspective-look-on-players-of-color-with-brandi-cannon/

Elizabeth Barcelos and David Burtch sit down to talk about Best Coast Classic 4, the Original Geese, and the state of quidditch in the West.

Ryan Smythe and Elizabeth Barcelos are back with an Easter edition of West Coast Bias to talk about the West's performance at US Cup 12 and fight about the quality of late-stage Weezer. Read more: https://facebeatit.org/2019/04/21/west-coast-bias-ep-14-big-duck-energy/

Jackie Ross took time off from recording 'What's Next?' to join Ryan Smythe and Elizabeth Barcelos to talk about US Cup 12 for this episode of West Coast Bias. Read more: https://facebeatit.org/2019/04/10/west-coast-bias-ep-13-kiddie-pool-party/

On this episode of What's Next, Jackie Ross discusses feminism and its place in US Quidditch with USQ Events Director Mary Kimball. Read more: https://facebeatit.org/2019/04/04/whats-next-ep-8-feminism-and-its-place-in-usq-with-mary-kimball/

On this episode of What's Next, Jackie Ross discusses what it means to be a female athlete at the higher levels of quidditch, USQ's gameplay department, and the International Confederation of Broomstick Athletes with USQ Event Gameplay Coordinator Sarah Kneiling. Read more: https://facebeatit.org/2019/03/28/whats-next-ep-7-what-it-means-to-be-a-female-athlete-at-the-higher-levels-of-quidditch-with-sarah-kneiling/

On this episode of What's Next, Jackie Ross discusses Major League Quidditch and increasing gender equity within the sport with MLQ Human Resources Director Lisle Coleman. Read more: https://facebeatit.org/2019/03/21/whats-next-ep-6-mlq-and-increasing-gender-equity-within-the-sport-with-lisle-coleman/

On this episode of What's Next, Jackie Ross is joined by the former captain of the Southern Storm and current QC Dallas player Joey Galtelli to discuss the male perspective on feminism. Read more: https://facebeatit.org/2019/03/14/whats-next-ep-5-the-male-perspective-on-feminism-in-quidditch-with-joey-gatelli/?fbclid=IwAR1XB8RBzHIxcOjQBL5DPsZXAKUEaFXkMRIy3f081iTmaWHT78jnDu8j6ao

On this episode of What's Next, Jackie Ross discusses what it means to be called a bitch or bossy as a leader in the quidditch community with USQ Referee Coordinator and Northwest Regional Coordinator Kym Couch. Read more: https://facebeatit.org/2019/02/28/whats-next-ep-3-what-it-means-to-be-called-bossy-with-kym-couch/

Ryan Smythe and Elizabeth Barcelos break down what they got right and what they got wrong in their preview articles for West Regionals 2019. Read more: https://facebeatit.org/2019/02/15/west-coast-bias-ep-12-west-regionals-2019/

On this episode of What's Next, Jackie Ross discusses working with USQ and what the volunteer experience can be like with USQ Event Volunteer Coordinator Katrina Bynum. Read more: https://facebeatit.org/2019/02/14/whats-next-ep-2-usq-the-volunteer-experience-with-katrina-bynum/

Jackie Ross is here with a brand new podcast, 'What's Next?' to cover what is obvious to some but not to others. Read more: https://facebeatit.org/2019/02/12/what's-next?-ep-1:-introduction/

Elizabeth Barcelos is joined by Sequoia Thomas and Kim Cheng on this episode of West Coast Bias to talk about Barcelos Bowl and the most recent weekend of #LadyCamp.

After an extended technical delay, West Coast Bias is back to talk about the IQA losing €4,100, Skrewts Memorial Cup, Anthil Funkdown 4, the beers Hoops, Hops, and Heels gave us back in April, and the upcoming Lady Camp.

Drew Sutorius joins Ryan Smythe and Elizabeth Barcelos to recap NorCal by Northwest (congratulations to the brand new Bay Area Breakers) before closing out with an... interesting Lumberjack Invitational recap that may not have gone as originally planned.

This week on West Coast Bias, Ryan Smythe completely misses the delivery on an opening joke before Elizabeth Barcelos talks about the West Region's newest team, the Bay Area Breakers. We cover the two recent Utah tournaments, Crimson Cup and Top of Utah before discussing the Western Collegiate Conference, the new look Nomads and the gap between college and community teams, and the West Regions bid allocations for the 2018-2019 season. In other news, Ryan's continued experimentation with affordable XLR cables is going great (audio gets weird again at around 28:26). Don't buy the VAlinks USB to XLR Microphone Converter Cable.

Face Beat It kicks off our Drunk Quidditch History series with the iconic quidditch fantasy tournament: Snow Cup. Sequoia Thomas talks Elizabeth Barcelos through the history of the tournament, from its origins outside in the snow with real and merc teams, to its current state as quidditch's premiere winter event, before looking into the future of Snow Cup and how quidditch has changed along with it.

Ra Hopkins, the first nonbinary head referee to officiate a USQ final, joins Elizabeth Barcelos for the second episode of her podcast series to take on the subject of a thousand quidditch flame wars: gender. With over a decade of quidditch experience between them, Barcelos and Hopkins reflect on how women and nonmale participants are treated as players, officials, and volunteers and how men in the community can be better allies and advocates. No trash cans were harmed in the recording of this podcast.

Welcome to season two of West Coast Bias! USQ is back, so that means it's time for Ryan Smythe and Elizabeth Barcelos to talk about the chances of Team Portugal in World Cup 2020, what's going on with Crimson Elite and Crimson Cup, our early thoughts about the changing community team rosters, how colleges will adjust to graduating students, and how the college/community split will continue to impact the sport. Apologies for the distorted audio near the end. It starts to get really noticeable at about 30:44 after most of the quidditch talk is done, but if you can stick around through our growing pains testing out some new equipment you can hear us talk about how the San Jose Sharks have never disappointed fans in their entire 27-year history. Liz sounds fine. Her mic didn't partially disconnect at the end. It's just Ryan. He's always a problem.

Elizabeth Barcelos opens her brand new podcast series by explaining something she knows pretty damn well – running a tournament. She's joined by Jackie Ross, former USQ South and Southwest Regionals tournament director and former North/South Carolina Team Rep to break down how the skills it takes to run even the smallest local games can scale up to major multi-region tournaments and USQ events. Editor's note: Liz and Jackie mentioned that USQ's game length guideline is 40 minutes. It is actually 45 minutes this year.

The Los Angeles Guardians won the West Division after sweeping the Salt Lake City Hive, so now it's time for Ryan Smythe and Elizabeth Barcelos to speculate about how well the Guardians, Hive, and the San Francisco Argonauts will do at Championships.

Ryan Smythe and Elizabeth Barcelos indulge in some quick Nationals talk, congratulate Team USA's Vicky Sanford and Mercedes Natali, and dive headfirst into MLQ, including the MLQ-adjacent (but not affiliated) teams around the United States and Canada.